ABSTRACT

Social media has become an important tool for reflecting the voices of women who live in countries, such as Turkey, where different forms of violence against women are widespread. This chapter examines the role of social media as a counter public sphere allowing internet users to participate in alternative discourse. The diffusion of online and offline communication and their integration in the everyday life of citizens, also raises serious questions regarding the constitution of counterpublicity on a macro-level. Due to the shared tweets, mainstream media played a key role in the abortion debate, both in the offline and online worlds. The abortion debate fell like a bombshell on the Twitter agenda as thousands of women shared millions of tweets and took to the streets to protest government policies regarding women’s bodies. An optimistic approach seems to dominate a research area as the internet and social media have been celebrated as technologies of empowerment for women.